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Shoe polish is cracking, help?

sushifingers

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Evening Gentlemen, i bought these pair of shoes yesterday and like the Badass I am, or wish I was, shone them vigorously, i had a mirror-like shine by the next evening, following this pattern, 1 layer of shoe cream, 3 layers of spit shines, and 1 spoon fire-shine(where i put kiwi in a spoon and heated up the bottom so that it melted), it looked amazing. I repeated this procedure about 4-5 times, all over the boot, not just the tip.

However, when I went out for dinner, the polish on the creases on the shoe started cracking. Is this just because the shoes are new, or is there something i should be doing to prevent it from creasing. I don't know if this is important, but I didn't strip the polish in between shines.

I've never had this problem before, for the other times I held Kiwi, I only polished the front tip of the boot or shoe, as the rest of the boot was not required to be shone in the military.


 

DWFII

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    I've never had this problem before, for the other times I held Kiwi, I only polished the front tip of the boot or shoe, as the rest of the boot was not required to be shone in the military.


There's the clue....wax, when it is applied in layers thick enough to create a mirror shine is going to be far less flexible than the leather it is sitting on.

When the shoe flexes the wax will crack. Period. Always.

Esp if it is a wax and not a lacquer.

Even very thin layers of wax applied over the whole shoe, flexes and comes off. That's why shoes need to be re-waxed ever now and again.
 

Mike147

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Just brush and buff and don't reapply more wax for now - You should be fine...
 

MyOtherLife

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     Evening Gentlemen, i bought these pair of shoes yesterday [COLOR=FF00AA]and like the Badass I am, or wish I was,[/COLOR] shone them vigorously, ....


Welcome to Styleforum sushifingers. You have my sympathies. These boots are only to be worn under 4" of ..make that 8" of snow, where no one will ever see them. Can you guess why?
Photo has been lightened for clarity...

700
 
Last edited:

aidaan337

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I'm replying 7 years late... however I recommend using a leather stripper or cleaner to clear the cracked wax on the leather, then use a leather moisturiser to condition the leather (Saphir renovateur is best). If you dont have leather moisturiser you can use oil to lightly condition the leather. Then buff it out and re-apply a mirror shine to only the toe cap of the shoe.

All the best,
Aidan
 

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